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Objective: The purpose of the research presented in this thesis is to explore new biomedical applications of synchrotron imaging in the field of neurosurgery.<p> Methods: Four different studies were performed, all using advanced biomedical synchrotron imaging techniques. In the first two experiments, diffraction enhanced imaging (DEI) and analyzer based imaging (ABI) were utilized to study the anatomy of the rat spine and a novel rat model of spinal fusion. In a third experiment, K-edge digital subtraction angiography (KEDSA) was used to study the cerebral vasculature in a rabbit model. In a fourth experiment, rapid scanning X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (RS-XRF) was used to study stem cell migration in a rat stroke model.<p> Results: DEI had superior visualization of ligamentous and boney anatomy in a rat model. Analyzer based imaging was able to visualize physiologic amounts of bone graft material and progressive incorporation into the spine. Intravenous KEDSA showed excellent visualization of the cerebral vasculature in a rabbit model. Finally, RS-XRF was used to track iron labeled stem cells implanted in a rat stroke model. The technique was able to visualize the iron that represented the stem cell migration. This was correlated with histology and magnetic resonance imaging information.<p> Conclusions: 1) Diffraction enhanced imaging has excellent contrast for the study of boney and ligamentous anatomy. 2) Analyzer based imaging is an excellent tool to study animal models of boney fusion. 3) Intravenous KEDSA is able to clearly visualize the arterial vasculature in a rabbit model. 4) RS-XRF can be used to study the migration patterns of implanted iron labeled stem cells.

Objective: The purpose of the research presented in this thesis is to explore new biomedical applications of synchrotron imaging in the field of neurosurgery.<p> Methods: Four different studies were performed, all using advanced biomedical synchrotron imaging techniques. In the first two experiments, diffraction enhanced imaging (DEI) and analyzer based imaging (ABI) were utilized to study the anatomy of the rat spine and a novel rat model of spinal fusion. In a third experiment, K-edge digital subtraction angiography (KEDSA) was used to study the cerebral vasculature in a rabbit model. In a fourth experiment, rapid scanning X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (RS-XRF) was used to study stem cell migration in a rat stroke model.<p> Results: DEI had superior visualization of ligamentous and boney anatomy in a rat model. Analyzer based imaging was able to visualize physiologic amounts of bone graft material and progressive incorporation into the spine. Intravenous KEDSA showed excellent visualization of the cerebral vasculature in a rabbit model. Finally, RS-XRF was used to track iron labeled stem cells implanted in a rat stroke model. The technique was able to visualize the iron that represented the stem cell migration. This was correlated with histology and magnetic resonance imaging information.<p> Conclusions: 1) Diffraction enhanced imaging has excellent contrast for the study of boney and ligamentous anatomy. 2) Analyzer based imaging is an excellent tool to study animal models of boney fusion. 3) Intravenous KEDSA is able to clearly visualize the arterial vasculature in a rabbit model. 4) RS-XRF can be used to study the migration patterns of implanted iron labeled stem cells.

[...] These words of G. Elliot Smith (1897b) recount the origins, going back over 100 years, of the concept of a "limbic system" which is distinct from the cerebrum as a whole. The system was named Rhinencephalon by Sir William Turner (1891) because of the close association of some of its components with the organs of olfaction. The most extreme border of the "limbe" or "hem" of the hemisphere comprises the hippocampus. The regular serrations of its dentate gyrus cause it to resemble the primitive sea animal of the same name. Interest in this in-folded, single-layered strip of archi-cortex, bulging into the lateral ventricle, has grown exponentially since those early beginnings. [...]

Since the demonstration of the presence of acetylcholine in the animal body by Dale and Dudley in 1929 (20) an extensive and complex amount of experimental work has been done to determine the role of ACh in neurophysiological processes. In 1933 Dale (19) coined the terms cholinergic and adrenergic to describe nerve fibres which act by release of either ACh or noradrenaline and adrenaline. He suggested using the terms cholinoceptive and adrenoceptive to denote sensitivity to the two transmitter substances. [...]

This study is concerned with the demonstration of the immunochemical specificity of central and peripheral nervous system antigens. Early observations of occasional "neuroparalytic" accidents following immunization with rabies vaccine containing nervous tissue antigens gave rise to speculations that immunological reactions could lead to clinical disease (Stuart, 1925). In subsequent years, neurological syndromes following inoculation of various vaccines, injections of foreign serum or associated with certain infectious diseases such as measles have become increasingly recognized (Miller, Stanton and Gibbons, 1956). These hypersensitivity reactions affect various parts of the nervous system resulting in encephalitis, myelitis or neuritis. In addition, many spontaneously occurring neurological disorders such as the Guillain-Barré syndrome (Melnick, 1963) and neurological complications associated with the collagen disorders are suspected of being the result of hypersensitivity reactions (Gell and Coombs, 1964). [...]

The classification of gliomas has always presented difficulties due to the wide range of variations found even among the gliomas of the same type, thus making it necessary to create subgroupings of complex diversity. This has been done by several authors from the time the classification progressed from a physical to a histogenetic basis and it became necessary for investigators to create complex subgroupings. [...]

A physiological distinction between the sensory transmission and integration of attended from non-attended stimuli is still awaited. We do not know "...what happens in the brain when the attention is directed one way or another..." In fact, neurophysiologists are still trying to establish the more basic distinction between sensory transmission and integration in wakefulness as opposed to sleep. [...]